Football manager Eddie Wolecki Black, who suffered a stroke, at home in Coatbridge. (Image: Media Scotland)

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Ex-Airdrie boss, Eddie Wolecki Black, is suing his old club after he suffered a ­half-time stroke at a match and was later sacked.

The former Diamonds boss has told how the club ditched him by email seven months after he suffered a near-fatal stroke while managing the team at a match in Cowdenbeath.

The 51-year-old claims he had been promised the League One club would honour the verbal two-and-a-half year contract he had agreed in December 2015.

And he has accused the club, and chairman Tom Wotherspoon, of betraying promises made to him as he began his recovery from the near-death experience.

Eddie said: “The club have made so many promises and broken them.

“I was worried because things happened so quickly when I was named first team coach that I didn’t actually have a signed contract saying I had a two-and-a-half year deal.

“But it had been verbally agreed and Tom told me not to worry because in Scotland a verbal ­agreement is legally binding.

“Airdrie even announced on their club website that I had been given a two-and-a-half-year deal.

“Hearing I would be paid throughout my ­rehabilitation was a big comfort to me at the time."

Eddie Wolecki Black instructs his team from the sidelines

Eddie was paid until September 28 – the day after he received an email saying he was no longer a club employee – despite having a doctor’s letter informing them he was fit to go back to work.

And he has slammed the club for notifying him of the termination through email.

He added: “The most hurtful thing is that nobody has had the decency to come and tell me to my face. They are either too ashamed or too embarrassed to see me.

“I’d been going to every game since I got out of the hospital and I wanted to come back and get to work.

“I put monthly invoices into the club for payment. That’s how it always worked, even before the stroke.

“In September, I was told by the person responsible for paying it into my account that she needed a green light from Tom to pay my wages. I emailed Tom saying we needed to talk.

“The team hadn’t been doing well and Kevin McBride, who had taken over as acting head coach, needed a hand.

“Within a couple of hours, I’d got a phone call from Jim Ballantyne, the previous owner, who was still vice chairman. He then sent me an email saying they couldn’t keep paying me as a consultant.

“But I was never a consultant. I was head coach and I was never told after the stroke that I had lost my job. There were 20 months left on my deal.

“That was around £50,000 in wages but they paid me the next day, September 28, and that was the last time they said they’d pay me. I do feel betrayed because he reneged on the contract. That’s it in a nutshell.”